We use RDP to access a Win 2003 server. Starting around 15:50 EDT yesterday I was told users of this service were kicked off the server. Logging in would get the following error "Application Error: This Application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000044), screen shot: http://imgur.com/963tT. Click on OK to terminate the application. You have to click four or five times (I'm assuming individual errors) to get the message(s) to go away. This leaves you with a blank desktop.
Using CTRL+Alt+End allows me to bring up the task manager. At this point I can manually start explorer.exe. The session remains fine if I disconnect, but it goes back to the errors if you log off.
Setting RDC on the client's end to open explorer on logon does not work. Attempting to set the terminal service to override the client and start any program (explorer, notepad, etc.) on logon causes the service to automatically log off right after you click through the errors. Using C+A+End before you click through the errors to start explorer manually prevents the log off.
Restarting the server temporarily fixes the problem. I haven't nailed down anything consistent yet as I was disconnecting instead of logging off. I know it hasn't made it twelve hours straight. I suspect the last restart only worked for three hours. Also, running in manually-activated-explorer mode induces a several second delay in normally instant actions.
Due to how the server is setup, a local user needs to enter a few key pushes while it is booting up. So I am unable to simply restart the server remotely.